Butler, A's paying homage to Oakland with walk-up music

This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos' A's Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND -- The A’s are hosting several promotions and festivities to celebrate their final homestand at the Coliseum -- which began on Friday night with a 4-2 loss in 10 innings against the Yankees -- before relocating to Sacramento next season.

For A’s players, their tribute to their home since 1968 began well before first pitch on Friday. It could be heard deep inside the Coliseum walls, as the sounds of Oakland/Bay Area rappers such as Mistah F.A.B., Keak da Sneak, Too Short, Dru Down and E-40 spun through the pregame playlist inside the A’s clubhouse.

On the field, A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler, second baseman Zack Gelof and left-hander T.J. McFarland each changed their walk-up/walkout songs to Bay Area artists. Butler walked to the plate for his first at-bat with “Oakland” by V-White blaring over the Coliseum speakers. Gelof used “93 ‘til Infinity” by East Oakland hip-hop group Souls of Mischief, while McFarland entered to “Jungle” by San Francisco's Andre Nickatina for his relief appearance.

Oakland and the Bay Area are rich in musical culture, especially when it comes to hip-hop and rap -- the genre most popular among A’s players. That’s why they’ve decided to pay homage to the city with their music selections throughout this final stretch of games.

“It’s the last games in Oakland so I just wanted to let the fans know that I appreciate them,” Butler said. “I appreciate Oakland for everything it has done for me and giving me the opportunity to play in the big leagues. That was a little thing I wanted to do, and I’m going to do it the rest of the [homestand].”

The idea to incorporate the Bay Area musical flavor was sparked inside the team weight room early Friday afternoon when Butler and a few other players took note of the Bay Area-only playlist put together by A’s strength and conditioning coach Josh Cuffe.

Butler, Gelof and McFarland changing their songs is just the beginning. Joey Estes, who will start Sunday for Oakland, is confirmed to walk out to a Bay Area-themed song. Butler is also hoping to get other teammates involved over the next week.

“We wanted everybody to have at least one Bay Area song in there just to let the fans know we appreciate them,” Butler said. “You might see more of it going on the next couple of days.”

Beyond the music, there was a palpable buzz inside the Coliseum from the announced crowd of 23,426, many of whom arrived about four hours before first pitch looking to soak in one last trip to the Coliseum. Those crowds are only expected to grow larger in size with each passing game, leading up to an already announced sold-out final game on Thursday against the Rangers.

“It felt amazing,” Butler said of Friday night’s crowd. “They showed out. It was a nice, competitive game. It sucks that we came out with an ‘L.’ But the fans were behind us. Everybody was behind us. It was loud. We could feel the electricity in the stadium. It was amazing.”